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Review of social work governance and assurance in Scotland

The Care Inspectorate has now published its final report following the review of social work governance and assurance across Scotland.

The review took place between July and December 2024 and sought to answer the following question.

How well do social work governance and assurance arrangements support leaders to:

• Ensure statutory duties are carried out safely and effectively?
• Enable social work staff to be supported, accountable and effective in their practice?
• Assist social work staff to uphold core social work values?

We looked at all areas of statutory social work including adults, children and justice social work services across all local authority areas in Scotland. 

We heard from

• 32 chief social work officers
• 64 senior leaders at head of service or equivalent level
• 159 operational managers
• 8 chief officers of health and social care partnerships
• 8 local authority chief executives
• 3,935 staff who responded to our survey
• Reviewed 1032 documents

Key Messages

Our review found that

1. Overall, social work leaders and managers worked effectively within often complicated governance arrangements. In most cases these arrangements were well understood by staff.
2. Levels of oversight and assurance were enhanced by dedicated ‘social work governance boards’ or their equivalent.
3. Social work influence was at times more limited within health and social care partnerships where it had a less equal level of representation.
4. The role of the chief social work officer was important in promoting and amplifying the voice of social work.
5. Staff, managers and leaders felt confident to promote and uphold values within social work services. There was a strong belief in the importance of social work values to support ethical practice.
6. Overall social work assurance was mostly effective.
7. Social work services were managing significant levels of risk relating to financial and staffing resources. The impact of both of these risks was amplified in island and rural settings.
8. Overall, staff were supported to deliver effective services.
9. Most social work staff benefitted from appropriate professional supervision arrangements and received learning and development opportunities which supported them to deliver their role.

High level messages for national consideration

• Scotland’s social work services were finding the ability to match supply with demand exacerbated by increased levels of complexity. This meant that social work was at risk of being unable to fulfil its statutory duties in some service areas.
• Staff were concerned that traditional relationship-based practice was being replaced by ‘transactional’ or ‘episodic’ engagement with people and children who use services. This was particularly the case within adult social work.
• A national approach is required to tackle the recruitment and retention crisis. Social work sustainability is particularly impacted by the enduring financial position. Change is needed to support the vital role of social work services.

We would like to thank everyone who participated in the review.

Our review report was published on 6 May 2025. You can read the full report below.

• Review of social work governance report
• Press release

How we do it

Justice social work: inspection of community payback orders 

In our overview report published December 2021, we presented the key findings aggregated across all five inspections.

Between September 2018 and November 2020, we completed five inspections of justice social work services with a particular focus on community payback orders in these areas:

• Scottish Borders
• West Dunbartonshire
• Inverclyde
• Dumfries and Galloway
• Aberdeen City.

We produced an inspection guide for this activity. In summary the inspection methodology involved:

• submission of a self-evaluation by each local authority area
• review of a representative sample of relevant records of people who were or had been subject to a community payback order
• interviews with people currently subject to a community payback order
• focus groups and interviews with members of staff, partner agencies and stakeholders, and senior managers, chief officers, elected members with responsibility for community justice social work
• verbal feedback to the local authority on findings based on the analysis and evaluation of all aspects of the inspection
• publication of an inspection report for each participating local authority area that included evidence-based evaluations of key quality indicators using a six-point scale.

Community justice partnerships: supported and validated self-evaluation 

Between 2018 and 2020, we worked in partnership with His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS) to support the implementation of the new community justice model through a validated self-evaluation approach. We carried out assurance activities across the following five community justice partnerships, one of which incorporated three local authority areas:

• North Lanarkshire (did not involve HMICS)
• Clackmannanshire
• Ayrshire (North, South and East)
• Shetland
• East Lothian

For more information on the supported and validated self-evaluation methodology please refer to our guidance and additional information. In summary our activity included:

• support and guidance from a strategic inspector for partnership areas to undertake self-evaluation
• submission of a self-evaluation by the partnership
• analysis of the submitted documents by the Care Inspectorate/HMICS team
• follow-up activities with the partnership to explore any areas of uncertainty (these included visits, interviews and focus groups)
• verbal feedback on the findings to each partnership based on the analysis of all the evidence gathered
• publication of the validation letter.

Community justice social work: throughcare review 

The Scottish Government established the national criminal justice Recover, Renew, Transform (RRT) programme in response to the ongoing impact of Covid-19 on the justice system in Scotland. One of the tasks of the Recovery of Community Justice and Prevention of Offending sub-group was to explore breach of licence and recall to prison. This was to further understand recall and related processes to reduce the number of people being recalled to custody, where appropriate.

In March 2021, the Care Inspectorate received a request from the sub-group to undertake a focused piece of work relating to breach of licence/recall to custody. The strategic justice team undertook a review of throughcare with a primary focus on community justice social work practice.

The review sought to:

• identify potential barriers to reintegration; and
• seek assurance that community justice social work contributions to breach and recall processes were operating as they should.

As part of the review, we also gathered the views of individuals from across Scotland who had been recalled to prison following a breach of their throughcare licence conditions.

We published a report of our findings in September 2021. The report contains more detail on the methods we used.

Our collaborative work with scrutiny and improvement partners 

We have a long-standing commitment to contribute to inspections of prisons and other institutions led by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons in Scotland (HMIPS). Over the past three years, our contribution has been led by the strategic justice team with support from other strategic colleagues as appropriate. Throughout 2020/2021, we contributed to HMIPS Covid-19 liaison activities through on-site visits and remote contact with community agencies.

Throughout 2021/2022, we will continue to work with scrutiny and justice partners to contribute to the thematic prison review of risk management, progression and early release.  

A separate piece of collaborative work will focus on the extent to which community justice partners are delivering on national priorities relating to early intervention and prevention.

In July 2023, we commenced a joint thematic review of prison-based social work, in partnership with His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons in Scotland (HMIPS). This thematic review will consider the strengths and challenges in the governance, leadership, and accountability of prison-based social work services in Scotland. The full Terms of Reference for the review can be found here. This work will conclude in April 2024.

Joint inspections of services for children and young people

Our approach

In 2017, Scottish Ministers asked us to work with scrutiny partners to take a more focused look at children and young people in need of care and protection. Our joint inspections therefore take account of their experiences and outcomes by looking at the services provided for them by health visitors, school nurses, teachers, doctors, social workers, police officers and lots of other people who work with them and their families.

Children and young people have told us about the importance of being able to experience sincere human contact and enduring relationships. They want to be able to build trust through consistent relationships with adults and they want to be supported to maintain contact with those people who are most important in their lives. Our approach therefore looks carefully at how well services and systems are organised so that they can experience continuity in their care and develop and sustain lasting relationships.

We believe that staff who are well trained and who feel valued and empowered, are more likely to be able to provide high quality services for children and young people. We therefore explore how well staff are supported to carry out their task.

We know that partners recognise that assessment and planning are critical to ensure the safety of, and improving outcomes for, children and young people. However, we also know that performance in assessment and planning is not as consistently strong across the country as it needs to be and we will look to see if robust quality assurance and high quality reflective supervision are in place.

Our inspections also consider whether legal measures are being used appropriately to achieve security and stability for vulnerable children. Inspections include a focus on the role played by those working in adult services to protect children and young people and support sustained positive change for them and their families.

Strong collaborative leadership is essential within the challenging context of providing high quality public services in an integrated landscape. We consider the effectiveness of collaborative leadership, including leadership of the child protection committee and its relationship with chief officers. We look at how well leaders can demonstrate what difference they are collectively making to the lives of children in need of protection and those for whom they are corporate parents. We also identify any barriers that affect continued improved performance.

We started the current round of joint inspections of services for children in need of care and protection in August 2018 and will continue to review and revise the approach over the course of these inspections. Following the suspension of joint inspections in 2020 due to Covid 19, the current round has resumed with a focus on children at risk of harm.

How we do it

Our inspections last for a number of months. We collect information about the area before we visit it. This helps us to understand what happens there and what is affecting the way that services are being provided.

During the inspection, a team of inspectors from the Care Inspectorate and other scrutiny partners:

• speak with the staff
• speak with children and young people and listen to their views
• speak with parents and carers
• read information about the children and young people.

This gives us the chance to find out if children, young people and their families are getting the help that they need and if services are making a difference to their lives. What individual people tell us during inspection is confidential. Our reports do not include any information about them or their family, or anything that could identify them. However, we do have a duty to pass on information if there are concerns about someone’s safety.

After our inspection, we publish a report on our website about what we found for the area. Our inspection reports set out what works well and what could improve. We expect the community planning partnership to take action on any recommendations we make for improvements.

Getting involved

What you think really matters. If we are inspecting your area, and you have experience of services, you may want to speak to us about the help that you have been getting.

We will offer a range of ways for you to give us feedback. As well as a survey we will arrange one-to-one discussions and group meetings. Our one-to-one discussions can take place in person, or we can contact you by phone or other ways such as Facetime or MS Teams.

If you give us information anonymously, we may not be able to get in contact with you if you raise concerns about your own safety or the safety of anyone else. If you have such concerns, we would encourage you to contact your local authority and ask for their child protection or adult protection service. You can also contact Childline on 0800 1111. If we have any concerns about the safety of individuals, we will share this with protection agencies in the relevant area.

Our inspection team also includes young inspection volunteers. These are young people aged 18 – 26 with experience of care services who help us with our inspections. If you are a young person, you can choose to speak with one of them and you can have someone to support you when you meet them. If you are a young person and want to know more about becoming a young inspection volunteer or how to get involved, click here to find out more.

The Promise 

The Care Inspectorate is #Keeping The Promise of the independent care review. We are working across six workstreams internally and externally to influence and support application of the Promise,

Our strategic scrutiny children and young people team is committed to ensuring that our scrutiny and improvement activity is focused on the experiences of children and the impact of services on their lives. 

Inspection volunteers with care experience are key members if our local scrutiny teams. We will amplify the voice of the child in what we do, how we do it and how we report on it. 

More information

The Guide provides information for community planning partnerships (CPP) about the process for the joint inspection of services for children and young people in need of care and protection. This includes services for children under the age of 18 years, or young people up to 26 years if they have been previously looked after. It should be read in conjunction with the quality framework for children and young people in need of care and protection (QIF) for self-evaluation of services.

Find out more:

• Our joint inspection reports can be found here.
• Joint inspections of services for children and young people in need of care and protection Review of findings from the inspection programme 2018-2020
• Joint inspections of services for children and young people A report on the findings of inspections 2014-16
• The Guide